TWO Somerset councils are working with food and drink businesses to create a map to help visitors buy from local producers.

Sedgemoor District Council (SDC), alongside Somerset West and Taunton Council (SWT), are working with the Food and Drink Forum to launch the Food and Drink Mapping project.

The Food and Drink Forum team, based at The Food Works in Weston-super-Mare, will be contacting food and drink producers, suppliers and local retailers based in the districts.

From this, a publicly available map will be produced highlighting to businesses and the wider community the range of food and drink produced in the area and where to buy locally.

Simon Gregory, commercial manager South West, based at The Food WorksSW, said it has been a 'challenging' 18 months for the food and drink industry.

"Anything we can do to help Somerset West & Taunton, and Sedgemoor District Councils promote their local supply chain is crucial," he said.

"We will be conducting short interviews and surveys with producers, suppliers and smaller retailers to better understand their business, product, and supply chain.

"We will use this information to map local opportunities and advise the councils on what support is needed in the future to best support their food and drink businesses.”

The project also gives producers the chance to feedback on where they would benefit from support, for example in labelling, legislation, e-commerce and more.

This will help to shape the council’s support available to businesses in the future with a better understanding of their needs.

Councillor Duncan McGinty, leader of SDC, said the council 'wholeheartedly' supports the project.

"We are blessed in Sedgemoor to have a wide and diverse landscape, which produces some of the best food and drink in the country," he said.

"We hope that residents and visitors use the map to find all the scrumptious items that are available on their doorstep.”

For more information about the mapping project or for information on how to get involved visit foodworks-sw.co.uk/mapping-project, or call the Food Works team on 01934 315381.